What I hope to impart through this piece is the central point of my ideas formed around my existence, more particularly my survival during the time of war in Burundi which impacted not only my own personality but, in retrospect, the world. My central idea was to develop one specific way to positively change the world: the creation of the Training Centre for Development of Ex-Combatants (CEDAC).

As I present lectures around the world, many people wonder how this initiative came to be and how its mission could favour humanity? To answer the numerous questions of my interlocutors, I attempt here to make a historic receding of events that have marked my life – and changed my way to act.

My childhood was not unlike the one of others, especially as to this period when I had my parents. They had forced me to go to school, and I went without understanding the importance of education at all. In 1993, in the 14th year of my existence, the crisis occurred that had just carried away our nation’s first elected president.

In Burundi there are two main ethnics groups, Hutu and Tutsi, composing nearly all of our population. The third group, the Twa, represent the minority. In my surrounding social environment, some Hutus who were in majority in some regions killed Tutsis. In other places, where Tutsis were the most numerous, it was the Hutus who were killed. The army at that time was mostly comprised of Tutsis and the soldiers who restored order were used to slaughter many innocent Hutus.

Our vision

CEDAC vision is a peaceful and sustainable developed world. Some of the organisation's members have directly participated in armed conflict, while others have been victims of conflict through their indirect participation. CEDAC wants to interlink all victims of conflict within and across borders. Our vision seeks to eliminate conflict and sustain peace by creating means of reintegration for ex-combatants and others indirectly affected by conflict.

Our mission

Our mission is to support all victims of armed conflict. We seek to reduce armed violence through job creation, as well as offering other types of victim assistance such as psychosocial support to facilitate reintegration into society.

CEDAC values

At CEDAC, we hold our values of transparency, tolerance and honesty in the highest regard, because without these values we would not be able to survive as a not-for profit aid organisation. For example, without transparency our finical supporters, those involved in our projects and other stakeholders would not be able to hold us accountable. This in turn leads to an environment of mistrust.

It goes without saying that we uphold and value honesty at CEDAC. We believe that acting openly and honesty is not only good practice, but is essential for working in development and aid.

CEDAC is built also under a tolerance basis. This implies a high degree of acceptance for differences of races and ethnicity, background and diversity of ideas. Thus, CEDAC is an environment where contribution is reserved for everyone.